Beat Writer’s Block in One Step

Let me tell you a story.

Back in the 1970s, a professor of English Literature named Robert B. Parker wrote a detective novel starring the mononymed toughguy Spenser. That novel went on to be a series of over 50 best-selling novels, and inspired a TV show folks my age probably remember. I’m a huge fan.

Parker was interviewed on a show i watched, where he was asked about his writing day. Parker said he got up, worked out, ate breakfast, then sat his happy ass down to write five pages. When he had his five pages, he was done for the day. Some days that came before noon. Other days it took until after dinner. But five pages was the goal, and five pages happened.

“But what about writer’s block?” asked the interviewer, whose name i can’t say i recall.

“Ma’am,” said Parker. “I’m a professional writer. Did your plumber ever call to cancel because he had plumber’s block?”

That reply stuck with me, and is part of why i’ve been able to make a living at this for as long as have. Put another way, it can be phrased like this:

A professional writer, a professional anything, does the job even when they don’t feel like it. Even when it’s hard.

So listen, that might feel like i’m saying the one step to beating writer’s block is to not have writer’s block. Which i get isn’t very useful. But don’t worry. I’m not saying that. I’m saying that writer’s block doesn’t actually exist.

Which, on the surface, probably doesn’t feel that useful either. Also, it might feel untrue. You’ve had writer’s block. You remember it like it was yesterday. Hell, it might have been yesterday. You were sitting there, staring at the screen, and the words just weren’t coming. That felt a whole lot like writer’s block to you…and it feels like writer’s block to me, too, when it happens.

But it’s not writer’s block.

Writer’s block doesn’t exist. I’ll say it again.

Writer’s (clap).

Block (clap).

Does (clap).

Not (clap).

Exist (clap).

You know what does exist? Fatigue. Frustration. Fear. Boredom. Burnout. Stress. Uncertainty that you know how to write the next scene. Certainty that you don’t have enough information to write a paragraph about a particular topic. Discomfort with the emotional content of what you’re about to write.

A whole lot of legitimate things exist that might be sitting there, crouched like a gremlin, between your brain and your keyboard or pen. Those things are real, and they can get in the way of our writing.

But they aren’t writer’s block.

Again: they aren’t writer’s block. The thing about writer’s block is that it’s a nebulous concept, without any clear way of getting through it. All these other things - the fear, the frustration, the fatigue, and all the rest - are specific. You know what they are, and if you think about them, you know what’s causing them. And if you know what’s causing them, you can figure out how to fix them.

For example, let’s say you’re about to write a break-up scene in your romantic thriller novel, but the words just aren’t coming. You sit with it for a minute and realize there’s too much in the scene that reminds you of your divorce last year, and you’re simply not emotionally ready to tackle this. In the short-term, you decide to spend the day writing light-hearted banter scenes between your protagonist and their bestie. Long-term, you do some emotional work on recovering from that heartbreak.

For example, the words have been coming out like teeth pulled with rusty pliers for a couple of days. It feels like writer’s block, but when you sit with it for a minute you realize you’re just exhausted. It’s been a tough month, with far too many hands on your time and by the end of the day, when you sit down to write, you’ve got nothing in the tank. So you give yourself the night off and try writing in the morning - before the day can blow up and wreck your writing time.

You get the idea.

So: the one step to beat writer’s block? Figure out what’s really going on, then go fix it.

I’m not saying it’s easy, but it’s exactly that simple.

Now, go make it happen.

You’ve got this.

Quick note: this is the short version of a course i offer to folks who struggle with writer’s block. If you’d like some more detailed help and guidance on figuring out what’s causing your troubles, plus some simple hacks and habits that can keep them from showing up in the first place, you can find it over in the shop.